Wolves at the Door

by Steve Watkins

War. Wilderness. And the will to live.

In August of 1944, the Soviet Red Army finally reaches the edge of Hitler’s spreading empire. The two armies clash in bloody battles amid the bitter cold and hostile lands. With arrival of the war, life for Asta and her sister, Sophie, will never be the same.



Bombs and gunfire began to rage around them, destroying their city, forcing them to flee to the countryside. As word arrives of the atrocities from the Soviets and the Nazis, it’s clear that they are safe nowhere. Many evacuate, and Asta and Sophie and their mother join them, leaving the only home they have ever known, hoping to reach the Baltic Sea and escape to a new life on one of the transport ships.



It is a dangerous journey, followed by devastation when their transport is sunk in the harbor by the Red Army's submarines. The sisters survive but are refugees in their own country, daughters displaced by war. They seek refuge in the nearby woods, where they find other children forced into a similar situation. Children who have lost their families and, out of fear for their lives, have chosen to hide and live in the swamps instead. Each day brings them closer and closer to winter, and living in the woods is a deadly situation, surrounded by wild animals, war, and very little food. As children on neither side of the war, can the sisters find a way to stay together and survive?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Juvenile, Historical, World War II, Young Adult

288 pages, Hardcover

Published December 3, 2024

About the author

Steve Watkins is the author of the young adult novels Stolen by Night, On Blood Road, Juvie, What Comes After, and Great Falls, as well as the middle-grade novels Down Sand Mountain, Sink or Swim, and the Ghosts of War series, including The Secret of Midway, Lost at Khe Sanh, AWOL in North Africa, and Fallen in Fredericksburg.

A former professor of journalism, creative writing, and Vietnam War literature, Steve is the cofounder and editor of Pie & Chai, a monthly magazine that you can find and read online at pieandchaimagazine.com.

Reviews

[Melanie Dulaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like World War II historical fiction by Marsha F Skrypuch, Steve Watkins tackles a lesser known aspect of World War II. Skrypuch tackles the plight of those in Ukraine, besieged on all sides by German Nazis, Soviet soldiers and even military in Italy while Watkins presents the relatively unknown story of nearly 20,000 orphaned and abandoned children from East Prussia at the end of the war, called Wolfskinder or Wolf Children.

Representing those 20,000, Watkins created sisters Asta and Pieta whose father was conscripted to serve in the German army, or Wehrmacht, and their mother doing all she could to keep the three of them safe. After the nearly complete destruction of their capital city home of Konigberg, the trio flees to countryside home of their Oma and Opa. As the fighting between Wehrmacht and Red Army forces collide over them there, they hike under great duress on foot to the Baltic Sea and find an evacuation ship. That ship, the real life Wilhelm Gustloff, is torpedoed, sinks and takes Mama with it after she pushes Asta and Pieta onto a lifeboat. The girls find temporary shelter with other survivors but choose to leave on their own to return to Oma & Opa’s farm. All these tragedies are completed in approximately 100 pages and the remaining 170 detail the struggles the girls endure as they search in vain for someplace safe, warm and with enough food to survive. Other children come and go in their lives, various farms, caves, and shelters hollowed out in the snow and under felled trees are created, and food becomes such a scarcity that they become malnourished and resort to eating bark, the stolen slop from pig troughs, and so much worse. It is a tough read and joy is non-existent, with only a few brief respites from the intensity of their plight. As the book concludes, the war is over, but East Prussia is under the control of the Soviet Red Army who have determined that all Germans must leave or face the certainty of death and the girls decide to walk to the city of Hamburg, hanging to the thin thread of hope of finding their last known family.

Based on its length and similarity in style to works by Skrypuch, Alan Gratz, Jennifer Nielsen and Kathy Kacer, Wolves at the Door is likely directed towards readers in grades 5-8. But as a middle grade librarian, I often directed my 4th readers of historical fiction to works of Skrypuch, Gratz, Nielsen and Kacer. I would carefully consider each individual 4th grader before recommending this book to them. While there are no incidents of rape, nor overly detailed descriptions of mass graves, etc., there are almost no moments of rest or relief for the girls once they board the doomed evacuation ship and even as a mature adult, my heart was heavy as I read and I yearned for Watkins to allow Asta and Pieta find some sort of safety and comfort. While Christel, a girl who stayed with the sisters for a time, is “adopted” as a laborer into a Lithuanian home, a fact for some Wolf Children, the sisters’ fate is left in limbo as they turn their faces towards the 1000+ kilometers they must go in order to reach Hamburg. There is no happy ending. This is historically accurate, but some younger readers may be left a bit disturbed by the facts.

Recommended for older middle grade readers and younger YA with an interest in World War II history.

Thanks for the print arc, Scholastic.

[CYBILS Awards]

Spotted in a review by Ms. Yingling. https://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/...

[Jessica Heller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did this as a read aloud with my 12 year old daughter. Pros: We learned about an aspect of WWII that we knew nothing about. Cons (in her words, but I agree): There is too much find food/cook food/eat food/starve for 2-3 days/repeat the cycle. She also didn’t like that there weren’t enough scenes like the cover picture. In all, it was repetitively depressing and at the 2/3 point, we just wanted the book to end so we could move on to something else.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Asta, her mother, and her younger sister Pieta leave Königsberg after the British bomb it in 1944, and go out to her grandparents'farm at the edge of the Romincka Forest to live. Her father is in the army, but they haven heard from him in a while. The grandparents have Wehrmacht guards who are supervising Allied prisoners of war who are working on the farm. As the war continues, the mother makes a plan to go to live with a cousin in Hamburg, and also shows the girls an abandoned cabin where they can hide if anything happens. One day, when the village is out hunting rabbits, the Red Army attacks, and the girls are glad to have the option. Their mother escapes and comes to get them, and tells them that their grandparents have perished. The three head north to get on a ship to cross the Baltic, and team up with Monika, her infant brother Riki, and father Herr Muller. They all secure tickets for the ship, and manage to fight the crowds to get on it. Sadly, the Wilhelm Gustloff is bombed by a Soviet submarine, and while the mother throws the girls onto a lifeboat, she perishes, like about 90% of the other people aboard. Along with Gerhard, a young boy who attaches himself to the girls, they are supposed to get on another ship, but head the other way and decide to go back to Königsberg. Since this is a good distance, Gerhard offers that his aunt and uncle have a farm near the Memel Forest, and after a lot of traveling, sometimes using abandoned carts, they manage to get there. The aunt and uncle are long gone, and there aren't many resources left in the house, but Pieta has suffered from frostbite, and having shelter is a boon. Asta and Gerhard hunt rabbits, bashing in their heads with rocks. They hide this from Pieta, because she is sensitive but really needs to eat. Gerhard is interested in the Lithuanian Forest Brothers, who are seen frequently in the woods around the farm, but they are no help when the Red Army attacks and burns down the house. They end up joining forces with a number of other children (the Wolfskinder), many of whom meet terrible ends. Eventually, Asta finds out from a soldier that Hitler is dead and the war is over, and she and Pieta decide to make the long journey to Hamburg to find their aunt.
Strengths: Watkins has a couple books about war (Blood on the Road (2018) about Vietnam, and Sink or Swim (2017) about WWII), and brings an interesting twist to the stories. I haven't read too much about the war in the Baltics, but know that it was a particularly fraught situation. Asta and Pieta's experiences would have been all too common, and we see this from both of their perspectives. The way they interact with others on their journey and help each other gives a small spot of hopefulness in a very grim tale. There are several major historical occurrences mentioned, like the bombing of Königsberg, the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, and the children in the Memel Forest, which will be helpful in leading WWII enthusiasts to do further research. There are plenty of good details about life during this time period, and the message is very clear that war is not healthy for children and other living things.
Weaknesses: I could have used more up front information about when this was set. I was able to look up when Christmas was on a Monday, and pin this to 1944. Even though I had a friend in the Wehrmacht and was in this general area, I still had to look up a lot of background information to help me understand what was going on. I also would have been just as happy to have the entire tale told from Asta's point of view, since Pieta was very young.
What I really think: This is a very somber choice for older readers who like their World War II stories to have a survival aspect to them, like Nielsen's Lines of Courage, Skrypuch's Traitors Among Us, or Nannestad's We Are Wolves, which is also set in East Prussia.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

First sentence: We are in the shelter near our apartment building in Konigsberg when the bombing starts, the swelter of August trapped underground with us. The explosions are distant, east of the city. We feel slight tremors, but the walls only shake a little.

Wolves at the Door by Steve Watkins is a compelling historical middle grade novel set towards the end of World War II. Earlier this year--last week to be precise--I read a book with this exact, precise setting--East Prussia, German children, Russian invasion, hiding in the woods, fighting to survive, etc. (We Are Wolves by Katrina Nannestad). This one is narrated by two sisters--Asta and Pieta.

It is action-packed historical fiction. I would definitely recommend for readers who have begun to outgrow the I Survived series yet still enjoy historical fiction with survival themes. There are so many world war II books out there for this audience, this one is GREAT.

If my summary is lacking it isn't that the book isn't good--it's phenomenal. This coming of age story is SO compelling, so emotional, so WELL DONE, so impossible to put down. It was the first book of the year that I read in one sitting.

All the "almosts" I felt about We Are Wolves were realized in Wolves at the Door. It was SUCH a great read. It didn't hold back. It may be written for middle school--upper elementary and up. But it didn't pretty things up. It didn't gloss over the brutal, harsh facts. It was all in for history. And I think it showed how brutal war is and always will be.

[Boyschool · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warning: not the best for younger readers.
This book tells the story of the “wolf children” of East Prussia. It follows two young sisters as they try to survive after the war destroys everything they’ve known. The book is extremely graphic and I would not recommend it for sensitive middle graders. There is a lot of death, and loss, and grief, as would be expected in a book about war. However it is nonstop, the trauma and loss. It’s almost too much in a book for this age range, in my opinion. I know my own children, both middle graders, would have a hard time reading this. I understand it was reality for these children, but living it traumatized them to the point of shutting down just to be able to live through it. Reading about it now, by children who have no experiences like that, would also be traumatizing. So I would be cautious about giving this book to children. It is marketed as a middle grade book. For some, it will be too much. Just for example, you are going to read about the deaths of babies, toddlers, preschoolers, family members, siblings, parents, grandparents, and friends. You will read about children dying and their bodies being covered with branches, or left on the side of the road, or put in a shed. Some will be characters that you have become familiar with. It’s a LOT, and it just goes on and on. There is no happy ending. Just an ending.

[Rebecca Morrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is beautifully written and definitely accomplished the task of showing the horrors of war. It was difficult to read about this subject where there seemed no hope for these poor children. It was excruciating to get through, as I am a teacher and love children. To see in my mind the horrors that really took place, I often had to stop. Only recommend for high school struggling students, and no one younger.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A difficult book to read as the subject matter of orphaned children trying to survive in Eastern Prussia during WWII is not one of sunshine but rather winter, starvation, and loss - of family, of friends, of innocence. Difficult even as a YA book, but a forgotten story that should be told and remembered.

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel paints a harrowing picture of the last months of WW2.
Told in alternating voices of Asta and Pieta, the two sisters detail their fight for survival after losing everything, and all their loved ones, as a result of battles between Germany and the Soviet Union in 1945.
*Due to the subject matter, this book was pretty dark. Younger readers would benefit from adult guidance.*

[Jan Raspen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oof. This one is heavy. The author dives into WWII historical fiction with the story of the Wolf Children from East Prussia. There is no joy or happy ending to this book. It is full of death and grief, starvation and trauma. It took me a while to finish this one because I was reading it in print and it was really depressing, so I wasn't eager to pick it up.

[Alex Greenway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing book!

[Marissa Gehrke]

One of the most devastating books I have ever read

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, but quite brutal. Super depressing, and the ending felt incomplete.

[PottWab Regional Library]

A

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never heard of the wolf children before. This was such a sad time in history. War is such a horrible thing.

[Josiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

so once I picked this book up I could not put it down. Its so good its a got to must read book, I should also mention I never heard of this book until going to our local book store and picking it up, it was so good

Definitely recommend